Twentieth Century Social Movements and Their Local Impact
AMH 3930H/SYP 3930H-0201
Spring 2007 Tu/Th 3:00-4:10 BHC 127
Professors: Linda Chapin and Spencer Downing

COURSE WEB SITE
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~sdowning

Downing
Phone: 407-823-6466
E-mail: sdowning@mail.ucf.edu
Office Hours: Colbourn 540
Tu/Th 10:30–11:30 and by appointment

This course examines how major social movements of the twentieth century changed life across the country and right here in Central Florida. We come at these issues from different but complementary perspectives. Spencer Downing is a historian specializing in US history since World War II. Linda Chapin currently directs UCF’s Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies. Before that, she served in numerous elected offices, most notably she was the first person elected Orange County Chairman (a position now called “ County Mayor”). In addition, she has personal experience of many of the changes we will discuss this semester.

This handout contains basic information about the course, basic expectations placed upon you, times for the meetings and exams, and information on grading. The instructors reserve the right to make changes to this on-line syllabus; therefore, you should refer to the site often.

Required Written Texts:

• Juan Williams, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965
• Ruth Rosen, The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America
• Steven Stoll, US Environmentalism Since 1945

Electronic reserve readings : Other readings for this class will be available through the course website or the library’s electronic reserve accessible from an on-campus computer or a proxy server to your home computer (the library web site has directions for doing this).

Grades:

Your grade will be determined by the following factors:

• In-class participation (including daily questions and responses) – 30%
• Two five-page papers – 30%
• Presentation/Final Project – 40%

This course will use the +/- system of grading according to this scale: A = 93-100; A- = 90-92; B+ = 87-89; B= 83-86; B- = 80-82 and so on.

Discussion and Attendance: You are expected to attend all lectures and make substantive contributions to discussions. The instructors reserve the right to issue a FAILING COURSE GRADE to anyone who misses more than FOUR sessions for ANY reason. While you are in class, you should have all beepers and cell phones turned off. Answering such devices or leaving class to answer them is unacceptable.

Academic Integrity: You are expected to be aware of and follow the principles of ethical scholarship. Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated. A rule of thumb is: If your name is on it, it had better be your work. If you turn in any plagiarized work, be prepared to receive a failing gradefor the course. You will be expected to submit your long essays to www.turnitin.com.

Course ID:   1778643 Password: history.

Papers: Papers are due in class on the days specified in the syllabus. After that time, they are late and may not be accepted. They should demonstrate knowledge of the material, solid argumentation, and clear, thoughtful prose. Expect to be counted off for punctuation, grammar, and style (and do not even bother with the excuse that this is not an English class). It is your responsibility to keep a copy of everything you turn in.

Five-page papers are long essays in which you will engage a text in a substantive way. These must be typed, and they will be graded on a 100-point scale.

Student Presentations:

You will be divided into groups of three, and together you will choose a current social movement that has evidence of local activity. You will research the roots of that local organization and learn what it is actively doing. You will then put forward their findings in a 30-minute in-class presentation.

Each student will write and turn in a paper explaining the roots of the organization, group or movement studied; how it fits into the broader context of national social movements; what makes it similar to and different from movements and groups we have studied in the course; what have been its successes; what have been its failures; what are its greatest challenges at the moment

Week 1

• Jan 9: Introduction: “What is a Social Movement?”
• Jan 11: Civil Rights Movement – Reconstruction to Brown v. Board
• Reading : Juan Williams, 1-35.

Week 2

• Jan 16: Civil Rights Movement – Brown v. Board to the March on Washington
  • Reading : Juan Williams, 38-89.
    • Come to class with:
    • 1. A question you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you know the answer.
    • 2. A question you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which they do NOT know the answer.
    • 3. Discussion question for the class to engage
• Jan 18: Civil Rights Movement – Personal Testimony – Rev. Dr. LaVon Bracey
  • Reading : Juan Williams, 92-119.

Week 3

• Jan 23: Civil Rights Movement – Government Action/Direct Action
  • Reading : Juan Williams, 121-161.
    • Come to class with:
    • 1. A question you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you know the answer.
    • 2. A question you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which they do NOT know the answer.
    • 3. Discussion question for the class to engage
• Jan 25: Civil Rights Movement – Mass Movements
  • Reading : Juan Williams, 162-205.

Week 4

• Jan 30: Civil Rights Movement – Fighting for the Right to Vote
  • Reading: Juan Williams, 208-292.
    • Come to class with:
    • 1. Question you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you know the answer.
    • 2. Question you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you do NOT know the answer.
    • 3. Discussion question for the class to engage
• Feb 1: Civil Rights Movement – Personal Testimony
  • TO DO:

Week 5

• Feb 6: Civil Rights Movement – Black Power and Critiques of Liberalism
  • Reading: Please read the following sites on the Internet
  • Malcolm X, "Advice to the Youth of Mississippi"
  • Malcolm X Interview with A. B. Spellman
  • Stokely Carmichael, "Black Power"
  • Black Panther Party Platform and Program
  • Lewis M. Killian, "Race Relations and the Nineties: Where are the Dreams of the Sixties?"

NOTE: For the Killian piece, you must use an on-campus computer or log into the UCF library by proxy. There are directions on the UCF library site here: http://library.ucf.edu/Databases/

• Feb 8: Women’s Movement – The Woman's Suffrage Movement

• Reading: Ruth Rosen, 3-36.

Week 6

Paper 1 (due Feb 13)

• Feb 13: Women’s Movement – The Second Wave
  • Reading: Ruth Rosen, 37-140.
  • Come to class with:
    • 1. Question on the reading that you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you know the answer.
    • 2. Question on the reading that you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you do NOT know the answer.
    • 3. Discussion question for the class to engage
• Feb 15: Women’s Movement – Personal Testimony
  • Reading: Ruth Rosen, 143-175.

Week 7

• Feb 20: Women’s Movement – Radical Feminism and Women’s Liberation
  • Reading: Ruth Rosen, 175-260.
    • Come to class with:
    • 1. Question on the reading that you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you know the answer.
    • 2. Question on the reading that you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you do NOT know the answer.
    • 3. Discussion question for the class to engage
• Feb 22: Women’s Movement – Personal Testimony
  • Reading: Ruth Rosen, 263-294.

Week 8

• Feb 27: Women’s Movement – Women and Politics in the 1970s and 1980s
  • Reading: Ruth Rosen, 295-344.
    • Come to class with:
    • 1. Question on the reading that you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you know the answer.
    • 2. Question on the reading that you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you do NOT know the answer.
    • 3. Discussion question for the class to engage
  Mar 1: Women’s Movement – Personal Testimony

Week 9

• Mar 6: Women’s Movement – The Politics of ERA
• Reading: Ruth Rosen, 295-344.
• Come to class with:
• 1. Question on the reading that you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you know the answer.
• 2. Question on the reading that you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you do NOT know the answer.
• 3. Discussion question for the class to engage

Mar 8: Women’s Movement – Third Wave Feminism

Reading : TBA

• Come to class with:
• 1. A question you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which you know the answer.
• 2. A question you would ask the class or expect on an exam for which they do NOT know the answer.
• 3. Discussion question for the class to engage

Week 10 – SPRING BREAK

• Mar 13: SPRING BREAK
• Mar 15: SPRING BREAK

Week 11

Paper 2 (due Mar 22)

• Mar 20: Homosexual Rights Movement – From the Mattachine Society to AIDS
• Mar 22: Homosexual Rights Movement – Gay Rights, Gay Marriage

Week 12

Mar 27: Homosexual Rights Movement – Personal Testimony

Mar 29: Environmental Movement – From Yellowstone to Earth Day

Week 13

Apr 4: Environmental Movement – Environmental Activism Since Silent Spring

Apr 6:

Week 14

• Apr 11: Environmental Movement – Personal Testimony
• Apr 13: Current Issues/Current Movements
  • Student Presentations

Week 15

Apr 18: Current Issues/Current Movements

Student Presentations

Apr 20: Course Wrap-Up

Major Project

Choose a current social movement that has evidence of local activity. Research the roots of that local organization and learn what it is actively doing. You will present your findings in a 20-minute in-class presentation.

Each student will write and turn in a paper explaining:

• the roots of the organization, group or movement you studied
• how that group fits into the broader context of national social movements
• what makes it similar to and different from movements and groups we have studied in the course
• what have been its successes
• what have been its failures
• what are its greatest challenges at the moment